SA, Oz collaborate on SKA project

Johannesburg, 02 Mar 2009

Competing bidders for the hosting of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project - SA and Australia - will form a collaborative programme to advance the initiative.

Science and technology minister Mosibudi Mangena and the Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Kim Carr, reached this agreement at the recent SKA forum - saying that academic exchange on the project needed to be stimulated.

It is estimated that both countries have, to date, committed 150 million euros to bring the international SKA programme to fruition. The announcement for the final site for the SKA is expected between 2011 and 2012, while work on the SKA is due to start in 2013. The SKA will be constructed in a phased manner over seven years with operations scheduled to start in 2015.

If SA wins the bid to host the SKA radio telescope, it will be located in the Northern Cape. Currently, the site is being built to host the seven-dish Karoo Array Telescope and the 80-dish MeerKAT telescope - radio telescopes or pathfinders which will contribute to the SKA technology. The Australian Boolardy site, about 600km north of Perth, will be home to the Australian SKA Prototype and the Mileura Wide-Field Array,

Developments on these sites will assist participating countries in making a final decision on the location of the SKA radio telescope. Additional studies of the short-listed sites will be conducted by the three-year preparatory phase project, PrepSKA, prior to the final decision.

Following weeks of meetings looking at the design, construction and science goals of this instrument, SA and Australia noted that the SKA initiative was a high priority and decided to develop a co-ordinated scientific and technical programme for the development of the SKA radio telescopes.

“Astronomers will be able to exploit the complementary and common nature of the two SKA pathfinder facilities, conducting science that is aligned with the SKA reference mission, as well as capitalising on science opportunities provided by new astronomical facilities at other wavelengths,” says the Department of Science and Technology

The department also hopes that the collaborative programme will enhance the scientific impact of both pathfinders and contribute to the overall advancement of the SKA programme.